Mello Ends Bid To Get Jobless Funds

December 15, 2001|By INDRANEEL SUR; Courant Staff Writer

SOMERS — Former First Selectman Gordon J. Mello said Friday he recently filed a claim seeking unemployment compensation for the loss of his job in the Nov. 6 elections, but then changed his mind and withdrew the claim this week.

Mello, a Democrat who is taking a few months off to decide what he will do after losing the first selectman's chair to longtime Republican rival Richard H. Jackson III, said he decided to withdraw the claim after re-evaluating the benefit involved.

``I just sat down and looked at it. Why bother? It's not even worth the trouble,'' Mello said.

State law explicitly bars elected officials from seeking unemployment compensation for performing government service. Mello wasn't aware of the prohibition when he filed the claim.

Jackson had no comment on the matter.

Jackson beat Mello 1,423 to 1,332, a 91-vote gap in what has long been a narrowly divided electorate. Mello, a retired insurance broker, said several people in town advised him to apply for the benefit after the election. These people cited former Tax Collector Leon Dolby as an example of someone who received unemployment pay after serving the town, Mello said.

Dolby, who didn't speak to Mello directly about the subject, said Friday that he received the benefit because he briefly worked for the town as an appointed interim treasurer, not because he later served in the elected office of tax collector.

The state Department of Labor initially rejected Dolby's claim on the mistaken assumption that he was seeking relief as an elected official, according to Dolby. He said he later won the benefit on appeal in 1992, after he explained to the agency that he sought it on the basis of his work in the treasurer's office.

Unemployment benefits to town workers are paid for from a combination of state and town funds.